The Week in Parliament
Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : —On Tuesday we heard from Mr. Winston Churchill one of the great historic speeches of the English language. It was distinguished alike by the magnitude of the theme, by the personality of the speaker and by the compelling power of his words. There can rarely have been heard a speech which faced realities with more uncompromising frankness. His gratitude and pride aroused by the " miracle of deliverance " were countered by the sober and necessary reflection that " wars are not won by evacuations." Against the inestimable boon of the salvation of so much valuable life was set the terrible loss of material, not easily to be replaced at a time when every hour is the equivalent of a month in the years that the locusts have eaten. And for the future he might have said, with Chesterton's King Alfred: " I bring you nought for your comfort And nought for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet, And the tide rises higher."
Yet there was more of inspiration for us all in that speech than we have had from the facile optimism which has been administered to us on other occasions. We have to face the facts with the same courage and determination as was shown by our fighting forces in face of the enemy.
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